The Day Danno Died (i. m. James MacArthur)

The day Danno from Hawaii Five O died

it was 84 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.

Somebody, not me, had found some shoes

of a fifties vintage

in Uyeda's Shoe Store in Puck's Ally

where boxes are stacked every which way.

The day Danno died somone in Hawai'i

had probably entered Masako's Candy & Gifts

which is on the ocean side of Beretania,

between Piikoi…

My Les A Murray parody

An Absolutely Ordinary Elephant

An absolutely ordinary elephant makes tracks

to the breeding grounds of India

stops off to raid the Frost Free, terrorise

a few local farmers. Now that

forests are a vague memory (even

to an elephant who can't forget)

he finds beer and Sang Som liquor

absolutely to his taste.

Maybe he could cry, but doesn't.

A decade past he blundered…

The Owl

Was it you I thought

your breath

on my shoulder

so cold and clean?

A memory of you

riven to me

like a silver pin?

As if I’d been taken

for nourishment

and devoured?

You who always watches

to whom I’m blind.

Except now, here, in a moment

I never expected:

you holding me,

I holding you,

our future and our past

flying through the…

You had heard how in the old village

You had heard how in the old village

of St Victor des Oules

all roads lead to the wells,

all spies know la source

a girl who stoops by the well

to wash her face.

On guard her unhinged dog

a chihuahua with a red bow collar.

She too has red shoes and a white lycra top.

She is holding sunflowers.

He has her.

Not disappearing in a hurry

(for Mark and Linda, P76 ‘missing issue’ launch)

The artists used to live there

in the mansion were the fun had disappeared

like mangroves.

Though last I checked small shoots

had sprouted in the mud.

Lantana never seems to die.

Robert, his teeth went first

but his poems were superb.

Then he did too, go, though Hillsong

got him combing his hair

for the…